The Mockingjay- Revenge
by SerephinaRaven
Summary: Katniss Everdeen isn't you average sixteen year old girl. She's the youngest victor of the hunger games, having won at only thirteen. But that's not all. She's also the head of a rebellion, a rebellion that she sparked. This is a tale of blood, tears and lost secrets. Revenge. It's the story of how one girl changed the fate of her nation, and almost lost herself along the way.
1. Chapter 1

**HEY ALL! So during my break I decided to start another story. I would've continued the others, but I wasn't in my hometown so I didn't have the notes that I made for those chapters. **

**So let's jump in.**

Differences between the hunger games, and this fanfic **(A/N: this is important don't skip it)**

Katniss

She will be very OOC. She has been a victor since she was thirteen, which drastically changes a person.

A huge difference is that her father and gale's father, died when she was ten.

She is a lot stronger physically, because, she took up boxing as her talent as a victor.

Her personality will have considerable amounts of sass because, again, she is a victor, and from twelve, and seam, so she has faced a lot of controversy. **(A/N: and because it's my story and I want her to be sassy :))**

And the biggest change is, unlike all desirable victors, who would have started being sold at age 17, Katniss defies the capitol in her games, leading to snow punishing her, by making her start at thirteen. Similar to the 74th arena, she finds nightlock, and uses it as poison while shooting and other ways, which will be revealed later on.

She holds the record for the most number of kills (12), and the youngest victor, having turned thirteen just before the reaping. This will affect her indirectly.

She is also slightly more confident in herself, because she refuses to let the capitol break her.

She shares close friendships with many other victors, having brought them together for planning a rebellion. She helps convince victors like Brutus, Gloss, Cashmere and Enobaria to side with them.

The victors with whom she shares close friendships with are Finnick Odair (65th games), Johanna Mason (71th games), Cato Arden (73rd games), and Haymitch Abernathy (50th games).

With these victors, she is pretty much herself, joking and yelling, they are one big family.

Last of all, she is dangerous, and everyone knows it, her precision with a bow is equal to that of her punches. No one dares to cross her.

She is Katniss Everdeen, the only female victor of District 12.

Peeta mellark

Without the hunger games, Peeta is still the carefree boy he once was. He paints, and frosts.

Katniss and Peeta are friends, because she often goes to the bakery to buy bread and cheese buns.

He is still a wrestler, and is strong because of his bakery work.

There isn't much change in his personality because he was never reaped.

Gale

The only major difference in gale is that he is only a year older than Katniss, as opposed to two. This may not seem like such a big deal, but it is greatly important to the course of the story.

He will be slightly more awkward about Katniss being a victor, and it will be revealed why in later chapters.

There is another change, but it isn't related to him, more so his living arrangements.

Cato

This will not be a catoniss fanfiction, but they will become close friends, swearing revenge on the capitol.

I like to think that the reason that the careers were so bloodthirsty was because that they were never given a chance to be anything else. He will be darker, but at the same time, friendlier.

Katniss' mother

She will still fall into the depression, and get better eventually, but there is one very important thing

When Katniss is fifteen, her mother falls ill and dies of a disease with no known cure. It shatters Katniss and prim, who are now orphans, but it is important for the course of the story, why, I will reveal later on.

Prim

Prim will be working at the district apothecary after school. It is her escape, after both her parents died. She and Katniss share an undeniably close bond.

She is better fed, and is a lot more cheery, because of that.

**Chapter 1**

Katniss let the water wash over her and drown her pains. She was in her apartment in the capitol; every time she was called to the capitol for an _appointment_, this was where she stayed.

It was well furnished, because she often had to stay there for over a week, snow's orders, and because she was here at least twice a month.

A few years ago, she would have been silently crying, after all she was only a child, subjected to prostitution after the horrors of the games, and the life of a victor.

Now, she only stood there silently, scrubbing away furiously at her skin, to rid herself of the touch of the vile capitol man she had been assigned to as a client.

Once she was done she mechanically reached for the bruise cream that Finnick had told her about when he first found out about her appointments. She massaged it into her skin and dressed simply in black pants and a shirt.

She padded silently to the phone in the corner of the room and dialed in the phone number of her house. It rang a few times before Hazelle Hawthorn picked up, her motherly voice answering the phone.

"Katniss?"

Katniss smiled on hearing her voice. She absentmindedly twirled the cords of the phone line around her finger.

"It's me." She answered, abandoning the cord. "I called to let you know that I'll be back late tomorrow."

Once Mrs. Everdeen died, the two children needed a guardian. Other than a few distant cousins, who the two girls had met only a few times in their lives, they had no known relatives. During Katniss' games, the hawthorns were made out to be the 'cousins' of the Everdeen's.

Snow decided to take matters into his own hands, this was the capitol's girl on fire after all, and by the next week, all four hawthorns moved into Victor's Village. At first, Gale was a bit apprehensive, but he warmed up to the Idea of more food quickly.

Every few days, he and Katniss made rounds to all the poor, and handed out food to them.

Hazelle's voice was slightly muffled as she spoke, "Prim's asleep, I'll let her know as soon as she wakes up." Katniss could the smile in her voice as she spoke about the youngest Everdeen. It was easy to love Primrose Everdeen with her sparkling Blue eyes, and her charismatic and caring personality.

Katniss glanced up at the clock hanging on that wall. It was almost four AM in the capitol, meaning it was roughly eleven PM in district twelve. She decided to go up to roof; she hadn't had time to in the few days she was in the capitol. "I have to go Hazelle, I'll see you tomorrow."

Hazelle answered immediately. "Sure honey." There was a pause and a light scuffle before she hung up the phone.

Katniss got up and clicked on the button below the screen in the living room of her apartment. No one other than her victor friends knew what she did in the capitol. They all assumed she was attending parties, or doing some victor's work.

She selected a type of bread that was native to Four as she thought about her home. She walked over to the closet in the next room, grabbing a fleece jacket and that she had taken from Finnick the previous year, and shrugged it on, rolling up the sleeves until they fit her as she moved silently towards the living room once again.

As she expected, the bread was sitting right there, in front of the flap like part of the wall that was made for food delivery, and she picked it up and moved towards her door, grabbing her keys on the way. She made her way down the street where the tribute training center and living quarters were. The only reasons she went there were the training facilities and the roof.

She had trained the previous day, destroying a number of targets with a sword. Of course, the bow and arrow was her preferred weapon, but after the games, she learned how to train with an array of different weapons, learning how to fight and defend herself in any situations.

When she reached the tribute training center she held her hand flat against the screen next to the door. A small beep was heard, and the door opened. She quickly passed the tribute living quarters and dining rooms, barely sparing a glance in that direction. She didn't want to relive bad memories.

She made her way up to the stairs that led to the roof. She slowly climbed up and stood at the top, eyes closed, savoring the moment. The wind was blowing on her face, bringing with it, the sweet smell of the flowers that were in the garden there.

She opened her eyes and stood there stunned as she realized that she wasn't the only one there.

A tall, bulky looking man was standing about twenty feet away from Katniss. He was either in his late teens or early twenties, and was definitely not a capitolite.

He was wearing a sleeveless t-shirt, and shorts, definitely a bad choice in this weather. His hair was blond, and cut close to his head.

Her eyes skimmed over his arms, noticing the finger-shaped bruises covering them. So he was a victor forced into prostitution like her then. Every victor was introduced to the bruise cream that they were given to make sure no one knew about their situation.

Realization dawned on Katniss as she figured out who this was. Cato Arden, victor of the 73rd games. So this was the man who had broken her record for kills.

His shoulders were shaking, whether it was from grief or rage, she didn't know. She barely recognized him as the brutal murderer that she had seen in the games. He had killed one of her tributes in the cornucopia battle.

She couldn't hold that against him, she killed both of the careers from two in her games, after all.

So he had his first appointment, then. She walked towards him. Beneath every brutal victor was another broken victor, she knew that better than anyone.

When she was only a few feet away from him, he turned around and blindly swung a fist at her. He had a head of height on her, and a lot more muscle, but he was so driven with rage at someone, the capitol, a client, or whoever, that he didn't put much thought into the punch, madly swinging at whoever interrupted him.

Katniss easily dodged the punch and caught his fist, raising her eyebrows at the older man.

His mouth was twisted into a snarl "What are you doing here?"

She knew not to fight fire with fire, and merely shrugged. "I've been coming here since before my games."

He shook his fist from her vice grip and took a step back, realizing who she was. She had a reputation in two. "Katniss Everdeen" he said emotionlessly. "Sorry that I beat your record."

He didn't sound sorry. Eventually all victors went from sad, to angry, to numb. Precisely in that order.

Katniss let out a short, blunt laugh. "Don't be." she glanced at his arms. "Do you want something for that?"

He looked at her, still wary that he had dodged a punch from one of the strongest people in district two. "What?" he hadn't registered the meaning of her words yet. His expression was blank, a well perfected Victor's mask.

"Your bruises," She repeated. "All victors use a cream to make the bruises disappear."

He grimaced. "Snow said that the _appointments,_" he spat the word out like it was bitter, "started at seventeen"

He looked down at her. "You're sixteen." He said it like a fact, not a question.

She nodded; glad that was talking, rather than punching. That would make helping him easier. Everyone had barriers, and some were extra hard to break down. "It's Snow's punishment for my tricks with the berries in the arena. I've been doing it ever since I won."

"Ah," he said his face dawning in realization. "How come no one told me about the cream?" he asked, distractedly rubbing his arms.

Katniss smiled lightly at the memory of Finnick telling her about it, and then her telling Johanna about it. "I don't know" she spoke, "But do you want it or not?" she teased lightly, treading on dangerous waters.

He surprised her by nodding slightly.

"Please." he said simply, gesturing towards the staircase. She noticed that without the anger to distract him, he was shivering.

She quickly took off her jacket, sufficiently warm in her full sleeved t-shirt. She threw it back at him. He caught it easily, raising his eyebrows in question. "It's Finnick's", she explained. He shook his head. "It's not that. I just met you, nearly attacked you and killed one of your tributes." He said slowly. "Why are you helping me?"

She turned around and smiled sadly. "That's what us victors do Cato." She whispered. "We help each other". She also looked up at him. "And I killed Silas and Griselda" she added as an afterthought, referring to the tributes from his district that she had killed.

She moved down the stairs, him following.

"I'm assuming you don't have an apartment yet?" She asked once they were down onto the street.

He shook his head once. Even before the games he wasn't much of a talker. "I have a guest bedroom, you can stay at mine." She said, swiftly moving up the stairs to her house.

"And you're doing this because victors help each other?" he asked uncertainly. He didn't trust people easily.

"Of course" she said easily. She fished the keys from her pocket and opened the door, dropping them into a bowl near the door once she entered.

"Make yourself at home" she spoke. "I'll be back in a minute." Before leaving the room she gestured to the screen and button near the wall. "Order whatever you want for yourself and a lamb stew for me."

She left the room, missing the small smile on the other Victor's face. It was nice to have to somebody to care him after all these years on his own.

He took off the jacket and put it down, ordering one lamb stew, and the only food he had really enjoyed in the capitol, the spaghetti and meatballs.

As soon as he finished she returned, a small smile on her face on seeing his preferred food. She held out her hand, which held a few tubes of white cream. "Massage it onto the bruises; they should disappear in an hour."

To say he was stunned was an understatement. At sixteen, she was so used to her appointments that she spoke about them like they were normal. But of course, he realized with a start, they were.

Katniss felt protective instinct towards the other victor, even though he was older than her.

The arrival of the food startled them out of their thoughts. She grabbed her bowl and inclined her head towards another room and they walked towards the other room. She set her food down and brought a spoonful of stew towards her mouth.

She noticed Cato standing near the door. She used her spoon to gesture to another chair across the table, usually reserved for Finnick or whoever else was in the capitol at the same time as her.

Once they had finished their food. Katniss put both bowls in a dish washer and walked back to the dining room, leaning against the doorframe. Cato was still sitting at the table. Katniss broke the silence.

"When do you leave?" she asked him, taking a seat at the table.

"Tomorrow morning" he murmured. "The ten O'clock train?" she asked, putting her elbows on the table. Effie would have been horrified. He nodded swiftly. "Me too." She said smiling lightly.

"Who was your client tonight?" she asked him, with a subtle raise of her eyebrows. She felt the need to have some conversation, or else he would go back to being numb, and that meant she couldn't get close to him.

Of course she genuinely wanted to help, but she needed to know whether he would be willing to be part of the rebellion. **(A/N: don't hate on me, remember in the books she is slightly naïve, especially when it comes to other people's emotions.)**

It would take time to build trust between them, especially from his end, but she knew she had to try. He would be valuable to the rebels.

A scowl appeared on his face. "Zelda Ocean."

Katniss grimaced. "She's so needy." Cato did a double take. He didn't know how he expected her to react but it definitely wasn't like that. Katniss scowled. "You thought only males want females?"

Cato was a little cautious. He didn't mean to make her angry. He had seen her as a tribute. He saw her gaining a training score of eleven, dropping a nest of tracker jackers on tributes, blowing up supplies, and most importantly, the nightlock.

He recalled how she filled silver parachute with the deadly berries and sent them down to unsuspecting tributes. How her arrows were coated in the poison while she fired them, causing death to the victims even if the hit wasn't fatal. And all of this, at age thirteen.

Katniss Everdeen was dangerous.

But he had also seen clips of her with her sister, and the other victors at the capitol. He had seen that soft look that showed that she cared.

She was slowly showing him that she had many other sides to her, and he intended to stay on the good ones. It had been a while since he had a friend.

He may have been a murderer, but that didn't mean he was going to be unnecessarily rude to someone who had been nothing but kind to him.

He tried to diffuse the tension. "That implant is ridiculous"

Thankfully, it worked. Katniss snorted. "Who gets a gem implanted _there."_

Cato laughed too, surprising Katniss. "Zelda, apparently" he said dryly.

Katniss put her feet up on the table, leaning back into a chair. "So Cato Arden," she started. "Who are you, other than District two's victor?"

He sighed. "That's all there is to me."

"I'm sure there's more to you than a victor"

"Nope" he said, leaning back into the chair, mimicking her. "As soon as I turned six I was sent off to the Career's program."

Katniss let out a low whistle. "Your parents?"

He shrugged. "I found out that I have a sister, and now she lives with me. She works as a trainer."

He looked at her face, clear of pity. "What about you Girl on Fire? Who are you when you're not a victor?"

She snickered at his choice of words, a memory flashing through her head. "You sound like Finnick."

He actually looked mortified. They lapsed into easy conversation about their lives. On the outside they were bold victors, confident and strong. In reality they were just a broken family, clinging onto each other desperately for support.

It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

x.X.x

Katniss was woken from her restless sleep by a piercing scream. She realized what was happening and rushed into the guest room. Cato was thrashing wildly.

She tried shaking him awake but it didn't work. She brought her hand back, and slapped him hard in the face.

He woke up and jumped into a sitting position, hand on his face. "What the-"

He looked around confused until he realized where he was. "You were having a nightmare." She explained.

He nodded his thanks to her, sweat beading on his forehead. "I'm sorry I woke you up" he mumbled.

She smiled sadly. "I wasn't getting much sleep either." Her expression darkened. "Do you want to talk about the nightmare?" he shook his head. She wasn't going to pressurize him into talking.

Despite not knowing him for long, he was comfortable with her, but that didn't mean he was going to be spilling all his secrets to her.. She glanced up at the clock. "It's eight" she spoke. "We need to get ready."

He got up, rubbing the last vestiges of sleep from his eyes. "Meet you at the train station?" he asked her doubtfully.

Normally it took him a while to trust, but there was something about Katniss that made him feel safe.

They met up at the train station nearly two hours later, each with a duffle bag in hand. They spoke for a little while about what they were planning to do when they went home until the train reached.

They entered the station along with a few other victors returning to their districts. The train stopped at the capitol for fuel for ten minutes before leaving. Katniss nodded at Gloss and gave Cashmere a one-armed hug. Both were returning to one. Cato raised a hand in greeting to his mentor Brutus, who was getting off the train.

"Well, well." A sultry voice was heard from near Katniss. She dropped her bag and rushed to the owner of the voice. The last time she had seen Finnick was during the games, which was about three months prior.

When she first won, her nightmares were terrible. She was so young, and no one seemed to understand how such a young girl was able to harbor so much pain.

The start to hers and Finnick's friendship was strange. After about a month, Haymitch realized how much she was hurting and suggested she spoke to Finnick. He was almost as young as her when she won her games, and he had held the record for kills before her too.

He was twenty at the time, and she was reluctant and a little wary of him. She had seen what the capitol had made him out to be. A sultry man with a new woman on his arm every other week.

Before her games, she had been repulsed by him. But after her first appointment he found her curled up and crying in a supply closet.

He picked her up, and she immediately started thrashing until she realized who she was. He brought her to his apartment and just let her cry and cry and cry until she didn't have any tears left

He gave her the cream, and told her it would be okay. The next day in the capitol she saw a woman hand her a cracker with a mockingjay symbol on it. She was confused, but she quickly ate it and went to the man who had helped her through her tears the previous night.

He quickly took her to a place without cameras and explained the rebellion to her. He explained to her that she was the spark.

She immediately agreed to be a part of it, anything to keep prim safe. It was almost a guarantee that Katniss' actions would get prim reaped.

A rebellion would stop that from happening.

They formed almost a brother and sister like bond. Of course, Katniss was wary at first, and took a couple of months to warm up to him completely, but that was just in her nature.

Soon, they were calling each other frequently to help with the nightmares, and just to have someone to talk too. A year later Johanna mason joined them too.

They were this weird broken trio of victors, but they loved each other.

Now a few years later, Katniss wasn't the pre-teen girl who won her games using pure skill. She was a woman, the head of a rebellion, deadly in all ways.

Of course that didn't stop her from grinning like a kid at Christmas and jumping into Finnick's arms.

She released him and they chatted idly for a few minutes before Katniss remembered the other victor next to her. "Cato, this is-" he interrupted her and reached a hand out to him "Finnick Odair." Finnick grasped his hand and surprised the younger man by pulling him into a quick 'man-hug'.

"Off to twelve, love?" Finnick directed his question to Katniss. "Yeah." She answered, picking up her duffle bag and slinging back it across her shoulder. The train whistled, two minutes till departure. Finnick saluted her. "Call me when you get home."

She grinned at him again. "Will do."

Just before she boarded he called out. "Give Prim my love."

She didn't have a chance to respond; the doors closed behind her. She turned to Cato and gave him a cheeky smile. "Prim has a huge crush on Finnick."

Cato smiled, amused by the Victors' easy banter. He hoped that one day he would have a family like they did.

"Isn't he twice her age?" Katniss had told him about Prim while they spoke the previous night.

"Age is just a number, my friend." Katniss declared as they sat down in the living room of the train.

"And jail is just a room" Cato said dryly, extracting a laugh from Katniss. She had found that while he didn't say much, he had a dry sense of humor.

"Touché, pookie." She said snickering.

The previous night Cato wanted to call his older sister to let her know that he would be home soon.

His sister absolutely loved him and had been so happy to receive his call. She was so happy to hear from him that she used a nickname that he didn't really want people to hear.

Yes, that's right. Cato Arden, the vicious victor from district two who was over six feet tall and nearly two hundred pounds, was called pookie, by his sister. Katniss didn't think she had ever laughed so hard in her life.

His mouth knit itself into a scowl at the nickname.

They soon lapsed into a comfortable silence, Katniss reading a book, and Cato looking out of the window. Katniss broke it, closing the book and placing it inside her bag.

"You know," she said, shoving her bag into the compartment above her head, "Talking about nightmares always helps"

He shook his head. "Not now." He was clearly uncomfortable with talking about it so she let the subject drop. Katniss grabbed a napkin from the table and turned towards the other victors in the train car.

Two of them were playing some kind of game on a piece of paper; a man and woman in their early forties. Cecelia and Woof, district eight.

"Cecelia!" Katniss spoke to the older woman. "Can I have that pen for a second?"

Cecelia smiled at the younger victor and threw it across the train car to her. Katniss caught it easily and scribbled something onto the napkin before tossing it back at Cecelia with a "Thanks."

Katniss had always loved Cecelia, with her motherly tendencies.

The two victors returned to their game. Cato looked at Katniss with an amused smile. "You could have just asked an avox, you know" he said gesturing to the avox standing at the corner of the room.

Katniss looked at the avox. A memory flashed through her head. Guilt flooded her as she looked at the red-headed avox in front of her.

A hovercraft. A spear thrown through a man's stomach. A loud scream. Blood. Blood everywhere.

She was brought out of her memories by Cato's voice. "Are you okay?" He asked, his face worried.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Yeah" she said. "I'm fine." He looked at her as if saying 'yeah, right'. She remembered the piece of paper in her hands and gave it to him. "This is my phone number." She explained to him, effectively changing the topic from her memories.

She flicked her braid over her shoulder and continued. "Even if it's the middle of the night, if something is troubling you, call me." He felt a rush of gratitude towards his fellow Victor who had only met the previous day.

He opened his mouth to thank her when a voice announced, "District two approaching."

Cato stood up, grabbing his duffle bag. "I'll see you during my victory tour." The tour was approaching soon; the next month would be full of preparation.

Katniss smiled at him. "Say hi to Lyme and Enobaria for me." She didn't like saying bye to people, that was like saying that they would never see each other again.

The doors opened, and with one last wave at her, Cato Disappeared. A few District two victors climbed in, greeting Katniss. She nodded at them, and went to the corner and ordered some food, eating it silently. She didn't really feel like talking.

She dozed off and woke up to someone shaking her. It was Johanna Mason, the victor a year after her. She won at eighteen, so she was twenty now.

She barely had time to greet her before Johanna spoke, "Your stop is next brainless."

"Johanna" Katniss said sleepily. "What are you doing here?" the train was moving from the capitol to one, then two, and so on. "I'm going to eleven."

Katniss and Johanna's friendship was slightly strange. They had absolutely loathed each other at first. But when Johanna's family was murdered, she had no one to go too.

Katniss understood what it was like to have loved ones ripped away from you, so she decided that she would help the victor. She went to district seven, and made sure Johanna ate and bathed every day.

Then when Johanna snapped out of her dazed, grief-induced stupor, she and Katniss formed a friendship, a very close one.

On the outside, they bickered and argued, but they knew that they would lay down their lives for the other without hesitation.

Soon Johanna was the newest addition to the rebellion, and she was important, especially because she had nothing to lose.

They spoke for a while in quiet undertones before Johanna got off, leaving Katniss there by herself.

After about an hour later, they announced that twelve was coming up. Katniss flicked her newly braided hair behind her back, a nervous habit, before getting down.

The station was empty, unlike the ones at two and the capitol. She walked, the only sound her boots clicking evenly against the floors. The train would be here for ten minutes to refuel and then leave. No point standing there with nothing to do.

She walked into victor's village and opened her house door. It was nearly ten O'clock.

She dropped her bag off in the basement, where she usually slept to muffle the screams of her nightmares, and walked up to the living room. She was met with a furious looking Gale Hawthorn. "What the fuck Catnip?"

x.X.x

**The new chapters for my other two fanfics will be up in a few days, and I'll be back to posting as often as I can too!**

**This story is the one I'm most excited for because I have it planned and mapped out, and a few chapters are already written.**

**Leave a review if you have any questions, or if you just want to tell me what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter two. Hope you all enjoy it! **

**Chapter 2**

Katniss rubbed her arms. She was exhausted from her appointments and the traveling. The members of the house were either asleep, or in their rooms preparing to sleep. The last thing she wanted was to deal with an angry Gale.

"Well hello to you too _cousin._" Katniss stressed on cousin as a reminder to Gale that the house was bugged, and that anything he said against the capitol would be used against them.

"Seriously Katniss?" he asked, an incredulous look on his face. "Him?"

"What did I do now?" she asked him tiredly.

Gale gestured to the TV behind him. It was on and muted. Katniss hadn't even realized that it was on. Bad sign; she was usually extremely attentive of her surroundings. It was a capitol talk show, usually featuring Victors, and the gossip revolving around them. She, Finnick, Cashmere, Gloss and now Cato were usually the ones on the show, because they were the more popular victors.

The Hawthorne-Everdeen family knew not to watch it when Katniss was around, watching it affected her greatly, but as usual, she showed it to no one. The downside to being the strong one was that no one asked if you were alright.

On the screen were two pictures. The first was of Katniss and Cato entering her apartment two nights ago. The other was a short video clip of the two exiting her house and walking to the train station the next morning.

The show host, a man in his forties with hair dyed a sickly shade of purple, was making comments about them.

"Here we have Katniss Everdeen and Cato Arden, two of the most popular and attractive victors." Katniss glared at the TV fiddling with the end of her braid without realizing it. "The two were seen entering Katniss' house in the Capitol. Could this be the start of a new love story?" Katniss walked forward to the couch, grabbed the remote and switched it off.

Gale crossed his arms. "So?"

Katniss glared at him. "Really Gale? You believe something they said on that show?" she let out an exasperated sigh. "They started rumors that I was sleeping with Cashmere once. You believed that?"

Gale didn't look any calmer. "Then why did he come to your house?"

Katniss rolled her eyes. She was tired of people acting like she was a kid, or that she couldn't make choices for herself. "He didn't have an apartment so I let him stay with me."

Gale took a step towards her and spoke through gritted teeth. "He killed Argus." The male tribute from twelve who Cato had beheaded was in the same grade as Gale. They weren't really friends but they knew each other.

That was when Katniss snapped. She had enough of the 'he killed her, she killed him' game. The fault was no one's but the capitols.

"You know what Gale? You can't say that to a victor." She needed to make sure that gale knew his limits.

"Silas, the male tribute from two whom I killed, he was Enobaria's nephew. I killed the male from four; he was Finnick's second cousin. I've killed people Gale, with no training at all. I won so I could come home. To Prim, to mom" her voice broke slightly. "To you. But those careers, they had no choice. They were forced to train for twelve years." Her eyes were blazing with the fire that had given her that very name in the capitol.

"Have you ever thought that the reason they are so ruthless is that they were never given a chance to be anything else?" Her voice softened. "Now, he has the chance to be something more, and that's what I'm helping him be."

"He may have killed twelve people, and I may have killed only eleven but remember Gale," her eyes were shining with unshed tears. "I led six more children to their deaths."

Gale opened his mouth to speak, guilt evident in his eyes, but he was cut off the by the shrill ring of the phone. Katniss knew exactly who it was. She moved towards the phone and turned back to Gale.

"And even if the man I was dating was a 'murderer', then remember he's dating one too. You have no idea what we victors go through Gale" then she added as an afterthought, "And I hope you never have to know."

She picked up the phone and settled down on the chair next to it. She picked up the phone and softly cooed comfort to the shaking victor on the other end.

"Katniss?" Gale asked, guilt still seeping through his voice. "Is that-"

"Yes." She said firmly. She didn't hear him leaving the room but she knew he did. Gale often took time to own up to his mistake, and Katniss would respect that.

She spent an hour with the victor on the other end, softly telling him stories of her times with prim and gale, beautiful memories that would be seared into her brain for the rest of her life.

She told him about times in the meadow, twirling around with daisies in her hair, or laughing with Gale about a painting on her walls. She never had a way with words, but when the time came, somehow she knew exactly what to say. It was another quality which made her so popular in the capitol.

She spoke until she heard the even sound of breathing on the other end, and ended the call. It was bad enough that she suffered so much.

It hurt her so much to see the other victors suffer too.

She quietly went to the basement, which was divided into two parts. One was where she slept, and the other was where all her punching bags, gloves, and a few knives were.

She went to her bed, and closed her eyes, falling asleep almost instantly from exhaustion.

She woke up a few hours later from a nightmare of her father, and everyone else she loved, dying in the mines. It was of no use trying to go back to sleep. Besides, it was already about four thirty in the morning.

She quickly changed into some of the exercise clothes that Cinna had sent her a few months ago; black stretchy tights, that came mid-calf, and a t-shirt with sleeves until her elbows.

She stretched for a few minutes and then quickly scribbled a note to the rest of her family that she would be back late, and left the house.

She took off running almost as soon as she left victor's village, and didn't stop for nearly an hour. By the time she had finished running, and had cooled off, she went to the woods to hunt.

Of course, there was no need to hunt, she had everything that she needed at her house in victor's village, but she was a huntress.

Nothing would change that. Not even the games.

She ended up with two squirrels and a rabbit, a decent haul for the half an hour or so that she had been hunting.

She treaded lightly through the still empty town, and to the hob, where she knew that Greasy Sae would already be up and cooking. She gave the rabbit to her and left with a promise of coming back later.

She decided that the other two squirrels would go to the bakery, the baker and his two younger sons loved squirrel.

The bakery wasn't open yet, but Katniss could hear the shuffle of the workers preparing the bread and pastries for the rest of the day. As she came to the front of the bakery, the smell of fresh bread made Katniss stop and inhale deeply, savoring the smell.

She walked in the door, the bell chiming as she entered. A grumpy voice came from the back. "We're not open-" Mrs. Mellark stopped in her tracks as she realized who it was. Katniss usually came early to make trades. That didn't mean she liked it, though.

Katniss was a well-respected victor in twelve.

Initially a few merchants and even some from the seam were a little bit apprehensive of her. She got food and respect, and they didn't.

That all changed when they saw how hard she mentored her tributes. Of course no one knew her secret, not even the other victors. Two of her tributes made the top eight, and the others had their fair share of sponsors thanks to her dedication. But through all that, Claire Mellark hated her with a passion. It didn't matter that she was a victor, to her, Katniss would always be seam, and that meant she hated her.

She wiped her hands on her apron angrily and mumbled to her angrily, "I'll get one of the boys to help you." Sure she hated her, but Katniss had always ignored it, and Claire knew she was dangerous.

"Peeta!" she snapped, swinging the doors of the kitchen open. "Serve the customer at the front." Katniss almost snickered. _Every single time _she was here, she was just 'the customer'.

The blond haired baker's son walked into the bakery. Katniss came to the bakery pretty often to trade, so she and Peeta were friends. Even though he knew nothing about her personal life, it was hard to hate those blue eyes and that boyish smile.

"Hey Katniss!" Peeta greeted her enthusiastically, a smudge of flour on his chin. Katniss smiled at him wearily. She was leaving for the capitol again for a rebel's meeting in a few days and even though she dedicated everything she did for the rebellion, the meetings were held in the capitol, and that triggered lots of flashbacks.

"Rough night?" Peeta asked her sympathetically, noticing she was less talkative than usual. Katniss wasn't a big talker, but she usually greeted him, or asked him how his day was. Katniss nodded at him and put the squirrels on the counter. Peeta grinned enthusiastically. He loved squirrel.

He disappeared behind the doors and handed her a loaf of bread. That was the standard deal. One loaf of bread for two squirrels.

She spoke idly for about a minute with him, asking about his brothers and, and him asking about prim.

Surprisingly, one of Gale's close friends was peeta's older brother, Rye Mellark. The two had formed an unlikely bond when Gale started to get some hate from school for living in victor's village. He was basically the town version of Gale. The womanizer slash king of the slag heap.

She soon left, her spirits slightly lifted from Peeta's friendly behavior. He was a good friend for her to have. Peeta wanted more, but of course, Katniss didn't see it.

She walked around the town for a while, watching as the last of the night faded into the breathtaking sunrise, and then the light of day.

She walked home soon after, breathing in the sweet smell of roses that Prim had planted in front of their house.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Katniss had taken to helping those in the seam fix their houses recently. With no school to fill her time, she didn't have much to do in twelve, and she had the resources to help, so she helped as much as she could.

A few people felt like she was running a charity service, but those in the seam understood that she felt guilty for having so much. Today she and Gale were fixing up one of the woman's, Velma Henley, with her windows.

She was a widow whose husband had died in a mine explosion a few months prior, and she was six months pregnant with a two year old daughter. She worked as a washerwoman for some of the merchants, and Katniss helped her out whenever she could.

She and Gale were going to finish the work they had started about two weeks ago. Winter was fast approaching, and it was getting hard to keep the rickety windows of Velma's old house closed.

They didn't have any latches, and neither did the doors, so Katniss and Gale were fixing them to keep them shut. Velma had been fairly well off until her husband died.

He was a miner, but on Sundays he worked at the shoe shop in town, so he made money from there too. They had been friends of the Everdeens, and even contributed to sponsor money when Katniss was in the games. In a way, this was giving back to her.

Gale hadn't apologized for the previous night, and both of them weren't talking. They worked for about half an hour, until mid-noon, when Gale finally decided to speak up.

He wiped his hands on his pants and looked at Katniss, who was nailing a piece of wood into the window. He cleared his throat. Katniss looked at him, arching a perfectly plucked eyebrow, courtesy of Venia.

"Are you gonna give me a long speech about how you were always wrong and that you're sorry?" Katniss asked him with a smirk on her face. This was her way of saying she forgave him.

Gale wasn't good with apologies, and neither was Katniss. She knew how to break the ice that had been forming between them. An apologetic look crossed his face for a second before it vanished.

The corners of Gale's mouth lifted upwards slightly. "Maybe not always," Katniss was glad that he at least had the decency to look ashamed, "But most of the times." He admitted to her.

Katniss smiled and went back to nailing the wood, but Gale had other plans. He gently took the hammer from Katniss' hands and forced her to pay attention to him. He took a deep breath, "I'm sorry Catnip," he started. "All these years I assumed you were okay, after your games. I guess I never realized how hard it was for you." The same fire that she had started to show in his eyes.

"I can't believe how much all you victors have suffered. And the tributes too." His tone was slowly changing from apologetic to furious. "We need to do something, we can't just-" Katniss cut him off by quickly elbowing him in the stomach. There were peacekeepers nearby, victor's relative or not, Gale would be punished if they heard him.

"Shh!" she hissed at him. She knew what she had to do. The victors knew about what was to happen in the Quell. They all knew the plan to go to thirteen. Well, not all, but a lot of them.

She needed someone to herd twelve safely to woods where the hovercrafts would pick them up. She knew Gale would be perfect. Most of twelve knew him, and he had friends and allies everywhere.

It was time to tell Gale about the rebellion.

"Meet me outside my old house, tomorrow at midnight. Don't let Hazelle see you." He seemed to understand that it was important and nodded, clearly there was something bigger going on.

Gale and Katniss may have fought every day, but they needed each other.

It wasn't romantic, not in any way. Perhaps in a different world, one where she hadn't been reaped so early, Gale would have loved her. But here, they were hunter and huntress, from seam to living in the victor's village, without fathers to care for them; they were thrown together for survival and had formed a unique bond.

He didn't understand what it was like to be a victor, but he knew how it felt to suddenly have the weight of the world on his shoulders. Maybe on a lesser scale than his almost seventeen year old cousin, but he understood.

Katniss was a spark, deadly, and waiting to explode at the right moment, unexpected, and hard to find. She was a catalyst, a leader and a victor, in all ways.

Gale was a raging inferno, burning from day one, destroying the path of the capitol, so a better place could emerge from the ruins.

They would meet up the next night in the woods. And as soon as Gale found out about her plans, with her _cousin _by her side, she would be even more indestructible.

x.X.x

Katniss lay on her bed. It was late at night and she and Gale had finished repairing the windows and doors.

The next day, at this time, she would tell Gale about her plans. For now, all she wanted was rest; for an escape. She closed her eyes and prayed for a place where Prim could grow up in peace.

Of course it would be too much to hope for a good night of sleep. Her mind drifted where it usually did. Her games.

_Thirteen year old Katniss was perched on a tree. Nervousness and fear coursed through her veins. The last time she felt as nervous as this, was when she was waiting to find out whether her father was alive or not._

_She glanced at her small orange backpack which she had grabbed at the cornucopia. Inside was a silver parachute with a container. The container had been for her, when she had sustained a deadly burn from the game maker's fires._

_She closed her eyes for a second. Her district partner, eighteen year old miner, Damon Aster, who was also her ally, had died in that fire. He was one of the few tributes from twelve who had ever stood a chance in the games_

_She slowly filled the container with nightlock berries that she had found downstream. By this point tears were running down her face. This was the third tribute she was doing this to. She dropped that parachute down to the unsuspecting tribute from district six, and watched as her face lit up with delight. _

_Katniss covered her mouth with her hands, silent tears making their way down her face, as the starved seventeen year old girl ate a berry, and died instantly. At least her death was quick._

_As soon as the cannon boomed she slid down the tree and whispered to her over and over again. "I'm sorry."_

_The hovercraft entered the arena and grabbed the tribute with its claws, and disappeared as quickly as it appeared._

_She had killed ten people so far. Ten. And now they were down to the final three. They were the boy from eight, and the girl from eleven._

_Katniss had taken out the careers early in the games, by taking out their supplies and dropping the tracker jackers on them._

_Then she had used the nightlock as a poison in her arrows the berries._

_The next day the girl from eleven killed the boy from eight in his sleep, leaving her and Katniss to battle it out by the next day._

_Katniss couldn't risk going back to the nightlock bush to replenish her stock of the deadly berries._

_It was miles away, and by then the gamemakers would find a way to draw them together. And besides, she was from eleven, and was bound to know about the nightlock. She was out of arrows too so fighting from a distance wasn't an option._

_It was going to a brutal bloody fight between the two._

_All Katniss had were her snares, and three knives. Thankfully, one of the knives was coated with juices from nightlock. She had used it to cut up the tiny berries and slather them in bread, as a trap for two tributes. Crushing them up in her hands was too risky. _

_She was well rested, and thanks to one of her snares, she was well fed. That was the main advantage she had. _

_The other tribute was fifteen, and she had three younger brothers who needed to be fed at home._

_The rest of the day she trekked to the cornucopia where she knew the other girl would be._

_Fear and anxiety was running through her like never before. She climbed a tree to sleep, where she was camouflaged well by the foliage. A few hours later she was woken up by light footsteps. _

_Her heart clenched. In the next hour she would be crowned victor, or die a gruesome death._

_She slithered down the tree and faced her opponent. The girl was waiting down a few feet away. She knew Katniss was hiding in the tree but had no way of getting there. She was a lot bulkier and heavier so she couldn't climb up that high._

_Katniss faced her, twirling her dual knives in her hand, the third, nightlock-coated one was hidden away in her jacket._

_The other girl spoke. "Fire girl." Katniss nodded at her sharply. She didn't want to talk. She wanted it to be over. The games or her life. She was in no was ready, but she had promised prim._

"_I don't want to kill you." Katniss' voice was steely. "But I made a promise to my sister."_

_The other, taller girl offered a small smile at her. "Neither do I. but you're not the only one who made promises."_

_The girls faced each other circling one another waiting for the other to strike. Suddenly the other girl lunged forward and the battle for victory had begun._

Katniss gasped and sat upright in her bed. The fight for victory was brutal and bloody and she almost lost her arm in it. At the end, the girl had her knife pressed against Katniss' neck, and had whispered that she was sorry before preparing to slit her throat.

Katniss had whispered that she was sorry before stabbing her in the torso with the nightlock knife.

Before she had stabbed her, the other tribute seemed to understand that she was going to die. A look of peace crossed her face as she was impaled, and the nightlock stopped her heart.

That battle was Katniss' absolute worst memory. She was covered in dirt and blood, her's and the other girl's, she had cuts all over, both deep and shallow, and if she hadn't been patched up by the capitol, she would've died within the hour. Her head was swimming and her lips were chapped from dehydration.

Her vision was obscured by the blood flowing into her eyes from a cut over her eyebrows.

She was just about to lose consciousness when they had announced that she had won, and her only coherent thought before her mind went blank was, _'I'm going to see Prim'._

A few tears ran down Katniss face' and she didn't even bother to wipe them away. She had cried way too much in her lifetime.

She glanced at the clock on her bedside table. It was about 3 AM, the time her nightmares usually woke her up. She couldn't fall asleep now.

All past exhaustion was gone, replaced by a familiar burning feeling of guilt and anger. Guilt for those she had killed and anger for those who had made it possible.

She went down to the basement and slid her arms out of her sweatshirt, dropping it onto the floor.

In one swift motion, she pulled her shirt off, leaving her in her tank top, and cracked her knuckles. She made her way to the huge punching bag in her basement. She rained blow after blow onto the bag, feeling lighter, but at the same time more determined.

One punch. _Seneca crane_. He was the one who designed the games that destroyed her.

Second punch. _Every vile capitol man or women who ever laid a hand on her? They would pay._

A kick. _the games themselves._

She imagined the face of the _twenty three other tributes that died. _She hated the capitol, with so much passion and fire.

She rained blow after blow on the bag, imagining the faces of all the faces of her torturers.

One last punch. The hardest of them all. _The capitol. _ _President Snow. _

Oh, she was their girl on fire all right. They had given her a spark which had grown into a burning inferno of billowing ash and untamable flames.

A small smile set itself on her face, contrasting greatly to the tears that had leaked out of her eyes earlier. It was symbolic in a way.

For years she had cried tears of sadness, guilt and anger. And now, _they were going to burn. _Burn, just like she, and all the other victors had.

A plan was already in place; a plan with herself in the lead. She would show them what they did to her.

What they did to Finnick, the capitol's sex symbol, the charming man who had demons just as big as herself.

What they did to Johanna, the sarcastic and beautiful _woman_ from district seven, whose family was murdered because she refused prostitution.

What they did to all those careers, who had no choice but be the best or death.

What they did to beautiful cashmere, whose beauty led to her doom.

What they did Haymitch, _slaughtering_ his family for his mistakes; mistakes that would have not been made if not for the games.

What they did to the _hundreds_ of tributes who died in the games.

She would show them what she was made of;

_Fire_, because that was the only way to defeat snow.

x.X.x

**x. a review and tell me what you think.X.x**


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